Most
of North America east of the Rocky Mountains has infrequent
earthquakes. Here and there earthquakes are more numerous, for example
in the New Madrid seismic zone centered on southeastern Missouri, in the
Charlevoix-Kamouraska seismic zone of eastern Quebec, in New England,
in the New York - Philadelphia - Wilmington urban corridor, and
elsewhere. However, most of the enormous region from the Rockies to the
Atlantic can go years without an earthquake large enough to be felt, and
several U.S. states have never reported a damaging earthquake.

Earthquakes
east of the Rocky Mountains, although less frequent than in the West,
are typically felt over a much broader region than earthquakes of
similar magnitude in the west. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be
felt over an area more than ten times larger than a similar magnitude
earthquake on the west coast. It would not be unusual for a magnitude
4.0 earthquake in eastern or central North America to be felt by a
significant percentage of the population in many communities more than
100 km (60 mi) from its source. A magnitude 5.5 earthquake in eastern or
central North America might be felt by much of the population out to
more than 500 km (300 mi) from its source. Earthquakes east of the
Rockies that are centered in populated areas and large enough to cause
damage are, similarly, likely to cause damage out to greater distances
than earthquakes of the same magnitude centered in western North
America.

Most earthquakes in North America east of the Rockies
occur as faulting within bedrock, usually miles deep. Few earthquakes
east of the Rockies, however, have been definitely linked to mapped
geologic faults, in contrast to the situation at plate boundaries such
as California's San Andreas fault system, where scientists can commonly
use geologic evidence to identify a fault that has produced a large
earthquake and that is likely to produce large future earthquakes.
Scientists who study eastern and central North America earthquakes often
work from the hypothesis that modern earthquakes occur as the result of
slip on preexisting faults that were formed in earlier geologic eras
and that have been reactivated under the current stress conditions. The
bedrock of Eastern North America is, however, laced with faults that
were active in earlier geologic eras, and few of these faults are known
to have been active in the current geologic era. In most areas east of
the Rockies, the likelihood of future damaging earthquakes is currently
estimated from the frequencies and sizes of instrumentally recorded
earthquakes or earthquakes documented in historical records.

Induced Seismicity

As
is the case elsewhere in the world, there is evidence that some central
and eastern North America earthquakes have been triggered or caused by
human activities that have altered the stress conditions in earth's
crust sufficiently to induce faulting. Activities that have induced felt
earthquakes in some geologic environments have included impoundment of
water behind dams, injection of fluid into the earth's crust, extraction
of fluid or gas, and removal of rock in mining or quarrying operations.
In much of eastern and central North America, the number of earthquakes
suspected of having been induced is much smaller than the number of
natural earthquakes, but in some regions, such as the south-central
states of the U.S., a significant majority of recent earthquakes are
thought by many seismologists to have been human-induced.

Even within
areas with many human-induced earthquakes, however, the activity that
seems to induce seismicity at one location may be taking place at many
other locations without inducing felt earthquakes. In addition, regions
with frequent induced earthquakes may also be subject to damaging
earthquakes that would have occurred independently of human activity.
Making a strong scientific case for a causative link between a
particular human activity and a particular sequence of earthquakes
typically involves special studies devoted specifically to the question.
Such investigations usually address the process by which the suspected
triggering activity might have significantly altered stresses in the
bedrock at the earthquake source, and they commonly address the ways in
which the characteristics of the suspected human-triggered earthquakes
differ from the characteristics of natural earthquakes in the region. - USGS.

November 30, 2014 - TECHNOLOGY - The checkbook is dead. While we’re at it, let’s write an obit for card readers too.

And
if you’ve ever worried about who might be looking over your shoulder at
the ATM machine, or the exorbitant fee that money transfer will cost
you, don’t fret.

In years to come — not even that many — these
problems won’t even exist as the way we bank and control our finances
will change vastly. It already has in many ways.

“We’re in this
unprecedented space where technology is moving so quickly it’s starting
to scare everyone,” said Gi Fernando, founder and investor of
Free:Formers, a company which helps businesses and unemployed young
adults with digital training.

“It’s sooner than you think,” said
Fernando, who claims in five years from now the technology behind how we
manage our banking and finances will be unrecognizable.

Here are five things you most likely won’t need in five years to keep your finances ticking along.Pin numbers and card readers

As
biometrics become the choice of more companies, outdated PIN numbers
and clumsy card readers will be a thing of the past, said Fernando.

Fingerprints,
retina readers, belt buckles, watches and even contact lenses will
replace good old-fashioned pin numbers and card readers in our modern
day transactions.

“We will see much more use of biometric data,”
agrees Steven Lewis, global lead banking analyst at Ernst & Young.
“Fingerprints and eye scanners will replace signatures and become more
prevalent,” he said.

“For buying stuff it’s going to be pretty
frictionless and seamless,” said Fernando, who described a scenario
whereby shoppers walk into a store, pick up what they’re after, pay via
their device or wearable, and walk out.Banks — as you know them

Though
there will continue to be physical banks, many of them won’t exist as
we know them today. Some of them will appear in supermarkets, cafes and
coffee shops, and in pop-up stores and concessions, says Fernando.

Like
14th-century coffee houses in Venetian society where business deals
were done, these new banking environments will serve a similar purpose.
“People have a need to meet face-to-face,” added Fernando.

So while there still will be bank branches, many of them will look and feel more like an Apple store, he suggests.Cash and checks

There
will always be cash despite what advocates of a cashless society may
predict. It’s quick, easy, accepted almost anywhere and can keep your
paper track simple.

“Cash will take longer to die out,” said
Fernando. In the meantime, smartphones and contactless payment methods
will grow in popularity as a way to purchase our groceries, clothes,
train and bus tickets and more.

The same can’t be said of checks
though. “Over the last few years, the check is pretty much dead,” said
Lewis. “We’re using digital technology to transmit that check,” he said.

“We’re
going to have a suite of different technologies. The early adopters
will be very keen to use their phones. Others will still have cash,
checks and cards,” added Lewis.Traditional loans

Want
to borrow money but your bank won’t provide the loan? Never fear, there
are many different models of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending groups and
websites who will lend money directly to individuals and businesses
without going through a traditional financial institution.

Lending
Club and Prosper are the two largest P2P lenders in the United States.
They issued $2.4 billion in loans in 2013, up significantly from $871
million in 2012. And a recent report by venture capital firm Foundation
Capital predicts the global market for P2P lending could be worth over
$1 trillion by 2025.

Another example — Funding Circle, in the
United Kingdom, is projecting massive growth. While banks still provide
the majority of lending in the United Kingdom — over 85% — Funding
Circle says it hopes to gain a large chunk of that market over the next
five to 10 years.

“We’ve seen significant growth amongst P2P
lenders over the last couple of years,” said Lewis. “Although they still
represent only a tiny fraction of the overall lending market, their
approach is beginning to shake up the traditional bank lending model —
so much so that some banks are starting to partner with P2P lenders to
offer greater choice to customers.”Wire transfer companies

The
days of trudging down to the bank or money transfer agent to send your
hard-earned money back home or abroad may soon be over. Already there
are a wide choice of companies online which offer money transfers with
lower transaction fees — Transferwise, Kantox, CurrencyFair to name a
few.

Social media could broaden the appeal, with financial
services company Azimo letting users transfer money through Facebook, as
well as via the Azimo website and app. While a commercial bank charges
on average 12% to send remittances and a traditional transfer operator
charges about 6.5%, Azimo says it charges only 2%.

Azimo is
growing rapidly, doubling in size every two-and-a-half months, said the
company’s CEO Michael Kent.”We estimate that about 98% of money
transfers are still being conducted offline,” said Kent, “but with the
numbers moving to us we see that changing rapidly and that there will
soon be a tipping point as customers realize the cost savings and
benefits that digital brings.”

It won’t be an immediate switch
though, warns Lewis. “Certainly additional providers will increase
competition, but we’re also seeing a number of banks be more restrictive
in the money transfer space as they grapple with increasingly complex
and punitive anti money-laundering regulations.” - FOX59.

Police officers stand near wreckage at a scene of multiple bombings at Kano Central Mosque November 28, 2014. (Reuters)

November 30, 2014 - NIGERIA
- Nigeria suffered one of its bloodiest terrorist attacks on Friday
when three bombs exploded outside the Central Mosque in the northern
city of Kano, killing at least 120 people.

The assault was timed to coincide with Friday prayers and the blasts injured another 260 worshippers.

No
group has claimed responsibility, but the incident bore the hallmarks
of Boko Haram, a radical Islamist movement linked to al-Qaeda which has
killed thousands of people in northern Nigeria and forced over a million
to flee their homes.

The Emir of
Kano, Mohammad Sanusi II, often attends prayers at the Central Mosque.
An outspoken opponent of Boko Haram, he may have been an intended
target. However, the Emir was believed to be in Saudi Arabia on Friday.

Three
bombs detonated outside the Central Mosque in the heart of Kano as
worshippers gathered. Eyewitnesses said that two devices exploded in the
courtyard, while a third went off some distance away.

As the
blasts tore through the crowd, gunmen opened fire with automatic
weapons. "These people have bombed the mosque. I am face to face with
people screaming," Chijjani Usman, one of the worshippers, told Reuters
news agency.

Bomb detection security personnel inspect the wreckage of a car believed to be used in the bombing Photo: REUTERS

Another eyewitness, Aminu Abdullahi, said: “Two bombs
exploded, one after the other, in the premises of the Grand Mosque
seconds after the prayers had started.”

Mr Abdullahi told Agence
France Press news agency: "A third one went off in a nearby road. The
blasts were followed by gunshots by the police to scare off potential
attacks."

Officials later said that over 92 bodies had been recovered from the scene.

With
almost ten million people, Kano is the biggest city in northern Nigeria
and the sixth largest in the Muslim world. This assault on the mosque
was the most serious incident in Kano since January 2012, when Boko
Haram killed over 200 people during simultaneous attacks on police
stations and government offices across the city.

Mr Sanusi became
Emir in June after being sacked as governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank.
He was removed from that post for daring to expose corrupt transactions
by the state oil company.

Unlike some Muslim leaders in northern
Nigeria, he is an outspoken critic of Boko Haram. Earlier this month, Mr
Sanusi said: “These people, when they attack towns, they kill boys and
enslave girls. People must stand resolute.” He urged citizens of Kano to
“acquire what they can to defend themselves” and “not wait for soldiers
to protect them”.

Nigeria’s corrupt and ineffective army has
proved itself incapable of dealing with Boko Haram. Britain is
considering whether to send dozens of military trainers to assist the
country’s hapless security forces.

But Kano’s heritage as a centre
of commerce and Muslim scholarship – along with the city’s sheer size –
once drew a succession of foreign dignitaries. As Prime Minister,
Margaret Thatcher visited Kano in 1988.

The Queen toured the city
in 1956 and paid a visit to the Central Mosque, which was the target of
Friday's attack. On that occasion, she was welcomed by Emir Mohammad I,
the grandfather of Mr Sanusi. - Telegraph.

November 30, 2014 - UNITED STATES
- A fresh blast of frigid air and bone-chilling winds will continue to
expand across the Plains and Midwest through Monday, hitting cities from
Minneapolis to Chicago and Oklahoma City.

The frigid blast has already dropped temperatures nearly 60 degrees in a 24-hour periodacross parts of Montana Friday into Saturday. Some locales went from the mid-50s on Friday to nearly 10 below zero F.

The arctic chill will dive south and east through Monday, hitting
Minneapolis, Chicago and Oklahoma City with sharply colder air and
drastically plummeting temperatures.

Highs near 40 F in Minneapolis Saturday afternoon will be replaced by teens and single digits Sunday and Monday.

Bone-chilling winds will accompany the cold blast on Sunday, forcing
afternoon AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures into the single digits
below zero. Chicago's RealFeels will sit in the single digits above zero
throughout the day on Monday.

"This latest cold blast will not
be nearly as wide-reaching or long lasting as the one that hit the
country in the middle of November," said AccuWeather.com Meteorologist
Mark Paquette. "The Plains and Midwest will be hit the hardest, while
the Southeast will avoid much of the chill."

Oklahoma City will
be near record highs in the 70s Sunday before highs plummet into the
30s for Monday. Winds will place RealFeel temperatures in the single
digits around daybreak Monday.

Residents or visitors set to
endure cold wave should prepare to dress warmly and limit any time
outdoors. Those traveling home from Thanksgiving travels should put
plenty of blankets in the car.

This is especially so across the northern Plains, where RealFeel temperatures will drop dangerously to 20 below zero F Sunday.

An arctic cold front slicing southward will be responsible for the cold wave.

The cold wave will not be accompanied by snow or ice for the most part.
However, it may set the stage for an ice threat by midweek.

"Although the chill will not be as harsh across the Ohio Valley and
Northeast, the cold air may set the stage for an icy mid- to late-week
storm," added Paquette.

AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski explains
that a fast west-to-east flow across the nation next week will keep the
coldest air out of the South but will lead to unsettled conditions in
parts of the West, Midwest and Northeast. - AccuWeather.

November 30, 2014 - SPACE
- Surrounded by radiation belts, Earth is being protected by an
invisible shield that stops high-speed “killer electrons,” scientists
have found after taking a closer look at the Van Allen belt 7,200 miles
above our planet.“Somewhat like the shields created by force
fields on Star Trek that were used to repel alien weapons, we are seeing
an invisible shield blocking these electrons,” the study’s lead author, Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics explained. “It’s an extremely puzzling phenomenon.”

This
previously unknown phenomenon has been discovered by probes aimed at
examining the so-called Van Allen belts, zones of donut-shaped rings
around our planet.

Until March 2013, scientists assumed there were
only two belts, filled with high-energy electrons and protons,
surrounding Earth.

However, a NASA-launched probe detected that there was a third belt in between the two.

The
outer Van Allen belt is about 25,000 miles (40, 000 km) above the
Earth, while the inner one can dip as low as 600 miles, close to the
plasmasphere. The newly discovered barrier is 7,200 miles or 11, 500 km
above Earth. But it seems to fluctuate in response to space weather.

These “killer electrons”
travel at near light-speed of around 100,000 miles per second and are
capable of damaging space electronics and can put astronauts in danger.
But this third belt stops them from moving towards Earth’s atmosphere.“It’s almost like these electrons are running into a glass wall in space,” Baker said.

AFP Photo / NASA

Previously the team thought the electrons drifted into Earth’s upper atmosphere, where they were wiped out by air molecules.

Baker’s colleague on the study, co-author and associate director of MIT’s Haystick Observatory, John Foster, says: "It's
like looking at the phenomenon with new eyes, with a new set of
instrumentation, which give us the detail to say, 'Yes, there is this
hard, fast boundary.'"

Scientists have also looked at a number of scenarios that could create and maintain such a barrier.

The
team initially thought that the barrier was created by the Earth’s
magnetic fields, which exist to send protons and electrons back and
forth from one magnetic pole to another. It was mooted that Earth’s
manmade communications could be creating some type of scattering effect.

Baker
believes both explanations don’t hold any water and that the key to
understanding the barrier will lie in closer, thorough studies of the
Van Allen belts."I think the key here is to keep observing
the region in exquisite detail, which we can do because of the powerful
instruments on the Van Allen probes. If the sun really blasts Earth's
magnetosphere with a coronal mass ejection (CME), I suspect it will
breach the shield for a period of time," Baker adds.

His work was published in the November 27 issue of the journal Nature. - RT.

November 30, 2014 - WYOMING, UNITED STATES
- The small town of Cody, Wyoming, was taken by surprise when
hurricane-force winds whipped the area, causing power outages, uprooting
a power pole and transformers and blowing out windows.

A neighborhood of about 100 homes experienced power outages that lasted for a few hours, the Associated Press reported.

Power was also cut to businesses and a streetlight downtown for four hours, according to the Cody Enterprise.

A
40-foot Colorado Spruce was downed on the Visitor Center, the Cody
Enterprise also noted. Cody Mayor Nancy Tia Brown offered an update on
the situtation, "We all have to be respectful of Mother Nature.

We’re taking care of everything as quickly as we can to make sure people are safe and comfortable."The
wind gusts the area experienced were powerful, as weather.com
meteorologist Linda Lam described, “Chinook winds developed along parts
of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains on Friday.

This strong downslope wind brought wind gusts of over 80 mph to some locations.

As the wind comes down the leeward side of the Rocky Mountains the dry air warms.

The warm and gusty winds ahead of an approaching cold front resulted in some record and near-record warm temperatures as well."

The winds were strong enough to knock out two storm windows in a home, the Associated Press said.

The winds also rattled the windows of city hall and interrupted its phone services, the Cody Enterprise reported.

Black
Friday shoppers were inconvenienced as Walmart asked shoppers to return
carts inside the store in order to avoid damage to cars parked outside,
said the Cody Enterprise.

The highest wind gust reported was 117
mph near Clark, Wyoming, and the high wind warnings continue
into Sunday for parts of Wyoming and Colorado. - TWC.

November 29, 2014 - WEST AFRICA
- The number of people with Ebola in west Africa has risen above
16,000, with the death toll from the outbreak reaching almost 7,000, the
World Health Organisation (WHO) says.

The
number of deaths is more than 1,000 higher than the figure issued by
the WHO just two days ago, but it is thought to include deaths that have
gone unreported in the weeks or months since the outbreak began.

Most
of the new deaths were recorded in Liberia.

The WHO has warned
that its figures could be a significant underestimation of the number of
infections and deaths. Data from the outbreak has been patchy and the
totals often rise considerably when backlogs of information are cleared.
The latest confirmed data shows that almost half those known to have
been infected with Ebola have died.

Meanwhile, two children tested
for Ebola after arriving in Britain from Africa are not infected,
Public Health England confirmed on Saturday. It said the overall risk to
the public of the virus continued to be “very low”.

The children,
whose ages and names have not been released, underwent precautionary
tests in Newcastle for both the virus and malaria.

The outbreak
has been centred on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. They account for
the vast majority of the cases reported to date, with about three dozen
cases elsewhere.

Liberia has recorded the highest number of cases
and deaths, but the rate of infection is slowing there. The disease is
now spreading fastest in Sierra Leone.

Mali has started recording
infections after sick people crossed over from neighbouring Guinea. It
has reported two new cases this week.

This outbreak has been the
worst partly because it occurred in a highly mobile region, where
Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone meet, and quickly spread to their
respective capital cities.

Another UN agency, the Food and
Agriculture Organisation, warned that families in the three countries
were at risk of both malnutrition and under-nutrition.

Vincent
Martin, of the FAO, said 70% of people interviewed in Sierra Leone had
been eating only one meal a day since the outbreak, rather than two or
three. Restrictions on movement had led to panic buying, food shortages
and severe price hikes, the agency said.

The WHO said this week
that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo had ended,
as it did in Nigeria in late October.

Its guidelines state that a
country can be declared free of the virus once 42 days have passed and
no new cases have been detected. The 42 days represents twice the
maximum incubation period for Ebola.

Scientists said on Thursday
that progress towards creating an Ebola vaccine had been made. An
experimental vaccine has triggered promising immune responses from 20
healthy volunteers in a preliminary trial, suggesting that it should
protect against infection.

Trials of a device that can diagnose an Ebola infection
within 15 minutes are about to start in Guinea. The test, which can
analyse blood or saliva, is six times faster than those being used in
west Africa. - The Guardian.

November 29, 2014 - BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
- Insurance companies are processing more than $27 million worth of
initial damage claims after the supercell storm that tore through
Brisbane.

But the state government estimates the final bill from Thursday's storm could top $100 million.

Brisbane
has been left bruised and battered after the tempest swept across the
city, packing wind gusts of up to 140km/h that drove hail the size of
golf and tennis balls through roofs, windows and car windshields.

The
winds - equivalent to a Category 2 cyclone - peeled roofs from homes
and businesses, and toppled huge trees and powerlines across the city.

Parts of Brisbane received a month's rainfall in less then an hour.

The
Insurance Council of Australia has declared the storm a catastrophic
event, and Premier Campbell Newman has called in the army to help clean
up.

About
100 personnel have been deployed from the Enoggera army barracks to
clear main roads into the city and aid other aspects of the clean up.

But Premier Newman said none of the 39 were seriously injured, including those who needed hospital care.
"It was a terrible storm, but thankfully no one's been seriously injured or worse," Mr Newman said.

He
said one of those injured was an ambulance officer who suffered cuts
when a large hail stone smashed through the window of an ambulance while
she was out on a job.

Insurance
council spokesman Campbell Fuller said the timing of the storm, at peak
hour, meant there was a lot of damage to cars because there were more
on the roads.

But he said the size of the hail had also done a lot of damage to buildings.

"Not just roofs, also doors, windows and even the facades of buildings," he said.

One of the worst supercell storms Australia has seen

The
Bureau of Meteorology said the storm, which hit Brisbane about 4pm on
Thursday, was an extreme event and one of the worst supercell storms
Australia had seen.

In addition to the hail and ferocious winds,
it also dumped close to a month's worth of rain on some parts of the
city in a very short period of time.

"We had 72mm of rainfall at
Archerfield, over 60mm of that fell in about 20 minutes. Just to put
that in context, the average rainfall out there is 78mm for the month of
November," the bureau's weather services manager Richard Wardle told
AAP.WATCH: Roofs ripped, planes flipped - Worst storm in 10 years hits Brisbane.

"So pretty much the entire months' rainfall in about half an hour."

He said wind speeds were also extraordinary.

"We
recorded wind gusts in excess of 140km/h at Archerfield where we've
seen aeroplanes and helicopters overturned on the runway.

"Those
sorts of wind gusts are the same strength as those experienced in a
category two tropical cyclone, albeit they were felt in a much smaller
area than what you would get in a cyclone wall." - SBS.

November 29, 2014 - EARTH- The following constitutes the latest reports of record snowfall and cold temperatures, as the global cooling trend continues, plunging planet Earth toward a new Mini-Ice Age.

Record snowfall in Pennsylvania; 11.2 inches recorded

The only thing area motorists could be thankful for Wednesday was safely reaching their destinations.

And for some, that didn't happen.

A pre-Thanksgiving snowstorm made roads a treacherous mess, sending
vehicles slipping, sliding and some even overturning. The snow set a
record.

As of 7:30 p.m. in Towanda, Wayne Vanderpool, National
Weather Service Co-Op Observer, reported that he measured 11.2 inches of
snow, "with it still snowing lightly."

He said it was "the most snow ever measured in Towanda on any November day, since records began back in 1895."

Also, Vanderpool said Wednesday's total set a 24-hour snowfall record
for Nov. 26. The old record was 2.5 inches, which he said was set back
in 1898.

The snow kept emergency responders busy with calls.

"It's all over the county," said Alan Painter, an assistant chief with
the Troy Volunteer Fire Department. "The departments are getting called
everywhere." Painter said that with all the snow, there was "no
traction" on the roads.

On Wednesday night, Painter stood
beside a truck that lay on its side, following a crash, with no
injuries, that occurred on Route 14 in Troy Township. He said it was
caused by the bad road conditions. A man, who was the only person in the
truck, refused treatment.

"It's pretty slippery, a slippery snow," Painter said. "It's one of the early ones. People aren't used to it yet."

Painter said the crash was the third such one of the day, in which vehicles slid off the road.

Another crash Wednesday, just outside Troy Borough near the Williams
propane tanks, on the opposite side of Route 6 in Troy Township, sent a
car over an embankment. The Bradford County Firewire Facebook page
listed 3:52 p.m. as the time of the call for a "vehicle off the roadway"
in the area of Williams Tank Barn on Route 6 in Troy Township.

Meanwhile, on Route 414 in LeRoy Township, the Canton Volunteer Fire
Department responded to a crash in which a truck overturned and landed
on its roof. The call was received at 3:27 p.m., according to Bradford
County Firewire.

Canton Fire Chief J. Scott May said no one was
injured in the rollover crash. He said it was his guess that the bad
road conditions caused the crash.

"They're terrible," he said of the roads.

The driver, a New Albany man who didn't want to be identified, said
that he was following a Fed Ex truck, at 35 mph, before his own truck
went over a ditch and flipped over.

State police at Towanda
said incidents in which vehicles were slipping off the road, due to the
snowy road conditions, were widespread Wednesday throughout the county.

Troy Borough Council President Krystle Bristol said the snow was "very slick" in the borough.

"The borough crew has been working nonstop to keep the roads clear and
will continue to do so until it subsides," she said. "It's a very slick
snow that is causing some accidents."

Borough Council Vice
President Jennifer Malehorn, meanwhile, said "the guys have been out all
day and will be out until the storm is finished. I know our guys are
ready and more than willing to take care of the borough. In addition,
the borough manager has been in communication throughout the day, so we
know the status."

On Wednesday afternoon, Canton Police Chief
Doug Seeley said the borough's street crew was doing a good job. He said
four people were working on the borough streets.

He advised motorists to drive with caution, and have a safe and happy holiday.

A sign for a Thanksgiving Eve service in the borough had a message,
noting it was canceled. It was the same story for a planned service in
Granville Center.

And if you didn't have to drive, you could appreciate the fun and beauty of the snow.

The Christmas tree at Canton Borough Hall was covered in a fresh coat of snow, giving it even more of a holiday look.

"I enjoy it, I don't mind snow," said Lindsay Rathbun, as she shoveled
snow in Canton Wednesday afternoon. She said it puts a little damper on
holiday travel, however. She had to cancel a trip to Maryland, because
of the weather.

"They're slippery, but they're right on top of them," he commented.

The sign on the north edge of LeRaysville,
along Route 467, stood almost covered in snow Wednesday. The bear
mailbox holder outside the home of Chris and Martha Young of
LeRaysville, meanwhile, was almost covered in snow as well.

The
snow made an impression on employees of the LeRaysville Market: Sara
Button, who had been shoveling; Traci Johnson; Krista Histand; and Sarah
Mast.

"It's beautiful!" Krista said of the snow. "That's all I
care about." She also heard a man say it was a "good day for penguins."

In Stevensville, Maria Hoover and her son Isaiah Hoover, 7, put the finishing touches on a "snow cat."

"We have a solid four to five inches up here already, and it's still
coming down hard," said Mallory Babcock of Armenia Mountain, at 3:07
p.m. Wednesday.

"It looks the start of winter."

"I
love getting it," she added. "I think it's a difficult time to have it
right before Thanksgiving, because people are traveling, that's the bad
part of it."

"We've had quite a few cars in ditches on Fallbrook Road," Babcock said.

She said PennDOT workers had to come up, with chains on their vehicles, and clean the road. - The Daily Review.

Nearly 150,000 Still Without Power in New England After Pre-Thanksgiving Snowstorm

The pre-Thanksgiving storm across the Northeast downed tree limbs
and power lines across the region, knocking out power to thousands.
(Twitter/Central Maine Power)

Thousands
of people across New England had to spend their evening in darkness
this Thanksgiving, as a powerful Northeast snowstorm wiped out
electricity across the region on Wednesday.

As of 11:15 a.m.
Friday morning, 109,000 of people served by the Public Service of New
Hampshire remained without power, according to the utility.

An additional 8,900 people in the state served by Unitil were also experiencing outages.

The company encouraged those experiencing outages to seek other arrangements for their Thanksgiving meals.

"While
we will be continuing to restore, customers without power this morning
should make alternative plans if possible for their holiday dinner,"
Unitil Media Relations Manager Alec O'Meara said Thursday.

"Once
the damage assessment phase is complete, we'll have a clear picture as
to how long it will take to restore power to all customers, but it is
clear we will be working through Thanksgiving in Concord," O'Meara said.

WATCH: Many without power after snowstorm.

In
neighboring Maine, the problem is similar. The combination of heavy
snow on power lines and car accidents resulting in downed utility poles
had left more than 100,000 people served by Central Maine Power in
darkness.

By late Friday morning, the utility reported that more than 21,000 remained without power across the state.

"The
heavy, wet snow that started around midday has built up on roads, tree
limbs and power lines, causing numerous outages across our service
area," said Gail Rice, spokesperson for Central Maine Power in a press
release Wednesday.

"We know people are eager to get power back, or
get an estimate on restoration time, so they can move ahead with
Thanksgiving plans. But with widespread storm damage, and snow still
creating difficult travel and working conditions for crews, we're not
able to provide restoration estimates yet," Rice said.

Though the
snow retreated for most areas early Thursday, temperatures through
Saturday will hover at or below freezing, preventing much of the snow
from melting.

Additional outages may amount as the heavy snow
lingers, testing the strength of tree limbs and power lines throughout
the region.

The chilly air will also make it more of a struggle for residents who rely on electric heat. - AccuWeather.

U.S. Great Lakes ice cover develops earliest in over 40 years

Ice
is already starting to develop on Michigan's Great Lakes. This is the
earliest ice on some of the Great Lakes in at least 40 years. According
to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, on November 20,
2014, three of Michigan's Great Lakes had ice starting to form.
Lake Superior and Lake Michigan were one-half percent ice covered,
while Lake Huron had one percent ice. Lake Erie was not reporting any
ice as of Nov. 20, 2014.

Decent early season ice coverage records date back to 1973. Last Friday was the earliest date that all three Great Lakes already had icesince
the better reporting of early season ice began. Lake Superior actually
had ice forming on November 15th of this year. That is the earliest ice
on Lake Superior in the good data set.

Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron had ice 10 days earlier this year than last year. Lake Superior only had five and a half months without any ice on the lake.

A
new type of 3D mapping revealed Antarctic sea ice could be much thicker
than previously estimated, shows a study done with the help of a yellow
robotic submarine named SeaBed.

The new study, published in Nature Geoscience, showed that average ice thickness in Antarctica is between 1.4 meters and 5.5 meters. The maximum thickness recorded was 17 meters.

Also, 76 percent of the mapped ice has been tagged as 'deformed,' the
study stated, which means that ice crashed together, forming a thicker
layers of ice.

"Our surveys indicate that the floes are much thicker and more deformed than reported by most drilling and ship-based measurements of Antarctic sea ice,"
states the study. "We suggest that thick ice in the near-coastal and
interior pack may be under-represented in existing in situ assessments
of Antarctic sea ice and hence, on average, Antarctic sea ice may be
thicker than previously thought."

SeaBed robot has been
involved in two expeditions in Antarctica with scientists from the UK,
the US and Australia. The yellow robot is an autonomous underwater
vehicle (or AUV) equipped with upward-looking sonar to measure and map
the underwater sea ice.

WATCH: Underwater robot maping Antarctic sea ice.

The two-meter robot moved in a
"lawnmower" pattern so as not to miss any areas and bounced sound waves
off the under-surface of the ice to make its estimates.

Two expeditions took place in 2010 and 2012 and included regions of Weddell, Bellingshausen, and Wilkes Land.

Overall, an area of 500,000 meters squared was analyzed by members of
the British Antarctic Survey, the Institute of Marine and Antarctic
Studies (IMAS) in Tasmania and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
in the US.

Before the discovery, ice thickness in Antartica
could only be measured through the ice breaking ships, which usually
stay around the thinner ice regions.

The revelations represent a breakthrough in the field, The Guardian quoted co-author of the study and a member of IMAS, Dr. Guy Williams, as saying.

"Sea ice is an important indicator of the polar climate but measuring
its thickness has been tricky," said Williams. "Along with the satellite
data, it was a bit like taking an X-ray of the ice, although we haven't
X-rayed much of it, just a postage stamp."

"The key thing is
that this is a game changer because it was previously very challenging
to measure ice depth. We were limited to visual observation from the
decks of ships or ice cores and take measures." - RT.

Meteorologist Matt Brickman is forecasting a high Thursday afternoon of
10 degrees. And if temperatures don't rise higher than that, it will be
the coldest Thanksgiving since Herbert Hoover was president, in 1930.

Snow will fall during the night in some areas, followed on Friday by the possibility of freezing rain. - CBS Minnesota.

–52C in Siberia: Over 70 passengers 'push' frozen plane to runway

The temperatures in Igarka were 52C below zero (Screenshot from youtube.com)

Freezing
temperatures didn’t stop intrepid passengers from “helping out” a
Russian plane that couldn’t move, because its wheels were frozen to the
ground. The "selfie" won the day in a remote Siberian town beyond the
Arctic Circle.

74 passengers, who were on board, offered the
seven-member crew and technical staff to help move the frozen Tupolev
Tu-134 plane to the takeoff runway on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the
UTair company told TASS.

“The passengers disembarked to lighten the weight, and then they volunteered to move it,” she said.

WATCH:Over 70 passengers 'push' frozen plane to runway.

The
temperatures in Igarka, in the Krasnoyarsk region, hit a low of about
-52C. Locals, living some 163 km north of the Arctic Circle, are quite
used to cold weather, but machines turn out to be more delicate.

Having
spent over 24 hours on the tarmac, the airplane’s wheels simply froze
to the ground. However, the brake system wasn’t harmed. According to the
company, the ice-covered ground was the reason the plane couldn’t be
moved. The incident is currently under investigation, and will involve
airport staff, the airline, crew and passengers.

The
passengers of the charter flight were rotation workers, heading to
Krasnoyarsk. They didn’t regard their activity as anything outstanding.
There just was no other way for the plane to take off, they said.“Planted a tree, built a house, pushed a plane,”
goes a new joke, referring to the three vital actions of a real Russian
man, which also includes having a son, according to a local TV.

Nonetheless, the director of the local airport said that “The
passengers – rotation workers – must have decided to make some sort of a
‘selfie’. The joke proved right and became a good one in the internet.”

He
was doubtful whether people could actually move a 70-ton aircraft. This
was backed by the prosecutor’s words, who added that it would be hard
to reach its two-meter-high wings, and if you did manage, the cover and
flaps could get damaged.

The plane successfully made it to Krasnoyarsk, albeit it with a little delay. - RT.

Thanksgiving Weekend Travel: Icy Spots in Northeast; Stormy in the West

As
millions return home from Thanksgiving this weekend, icy roads will be a
hazard in part of the Northeast. An onslaught of storms, bringing snow
and rain, will disrupt travel in the West.

Watch for Icy Spots in the Northeast

While drier and milder weather will arrive across the Northeast this weekend, refreezing of melted snow remains a concern.

A
winter storm plastered the region with piles of wet snow Wednesday and
Wednesday night. The storm knocked out power to more than 300,000
customers in the Northeast at the height of the storm. Thousands remained in the dark on Thanksgiving.

As milder weather reaches the snow-packed Northeast, the snow will melt during the day.

"Wet
and water-logged roads and sidewalks will freeze up at night this
weekend, creating dangerous travel conditions in the region," said
Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson.

The icy roads will be the most prevalent travel threat this weekend, especially across the interior.

"Travel during the daytime hours will be much safer," said Anderson.

Those traveling at night or around dawn this weekend should be prepared for slick spots.

The snowmelt could bring standing water across low-lying and poor drainage areas, but any flooding should be isolated.

A
few brief rain showers and even a few flurries will be found over the
interior this weekend, but there will be no widespread weather-related
threats to ground or air travel.

Wet Weather to End Weekend From Ohio Valley to Lower Lakes

For
people heading home late in the weekend into Monday, milder air and
moisture sweeping northward ahead of a cool front will lead to some rain
in part of the Midwest to the central Appalachians.

According to
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, "Motorists will
encounter wet roads at times in the swath from Evansville, Indiana, and
Louisville, Kentucky, to Cincinnati, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and
Buffalo, New York, Sunday into Monday."

"Allow extra stopping distance between vehicles on the wet roadways."

The
air may turn cold enough to allow some wet snow to mix in at the tail
end on Monday in parts of northern Indiana to western New York.

Snow, Freeze-Up for Northern Rockies; Rain to Dampen California

Snow will slow travel across Montana and the northern Rockies, while periods of rain will soak northern California this weekend.

Travelers
on Interstates 90 and 15 should anticipate snow-covered roadways as
several inches of snow piles up in the region. Some passes through the
Rockies may become closed for a time.

Drier weather will settle
into the region on Sunday, but frigid weather will keep snow and ice on
many roads.

The cold weather may even bring some wintry weather across
the Pacific Northwest.

"There will be a bit of snow and colder
weather in Seattle and Portland during early Saturday," AccuWeather
Western Weather Expert Ken Clark said. "There may be some slick roads in
spots."

Farther south, periods of rain will visit northern
California this weekend, including San Francisco. The rain will make
roads slick as it combines with oil buildup, including I-5 from Redding
to Sacramento, California, as well.

The rain will not be heavy though, so incidents of flooding and disruptions to air travel should be limited.

Mild, Dry in the South

An
expansive area of dry and rather mild weather will encompass nearly the
entirety of the southern United States. Sunshine will prevail for the
most part as highs soared into the 70s and 80s. - AccuWeather.

Britain to be colder than Moscow with -5°C forecast as flooding hits south east England

Many
Brits woke up to their first winter frost this morning - as more flood
warnings were issued for parts of the country. Forecasters are
predicting more of the same tonight, with the mercury set to dip as low as -5C in central Scotlandand gritters on alert up and down the country, compared to -4C in Moscow.

Central Britain and Scotland is also braced for a blanket of freezing
fog tonight before a misty and frosty start to tomorrow morning. Flash
floods hit parts of the of the South East of England last night with some roads transformed into rivers by a huge downpour with many areas receiving up to an inch of rain.

In London, the fire brigade tackled 34 separate flooding incidents. The
River Ravensbourne in Lewisham, south-east London, burst its banks and
water poured on to surrounding roads affecting an area of around 1,800
square metres, the London Fire Brigade said.

Around 21
firefighters and officers pumped the water away from homes and
businesses in the area and back into the river but further downstream.

More wet weather is expected with The Environment Agency putting 10
flood warnings in place in England and Wales yesterday - all in the
Anglian area.

The agency also issued 65 flood alerts, including 26 in the Anglian area and 28 in the South East.

Flood warnings mean flooding is expected and immediate action required;
flood alerts mean flooding is possible and people should be prepared.

Rain is expected to return on Wednesday.

Weather forecasters have also warned that this week's cold spell could herald a snowy and cold winter.

Piers Corbyn, forecaster for Weather Action, said early signals warn of a severe cold snap hitting as soon as next month.

He said: "There are significant cold and snow blasts expected during
December thanks to air being allowed to flood in from the Arctic region.

"This is due to a meandering jet stream which is currently
blocking this cold flow of air, however a major change will see a
dramatic turnaround with sustained cold and snow likely.

"People should be aware of the strong likelihood for disruption,
especially as it is still mild so there may be a false sense of
security."

James Madden, forecaster for Exacta Weather, added:
"A much anticipated colder and more wintry spell of weather is likely as
we progress throughout the latter part of November and into December."

She said: "Actually what we are seeing is an end to what has been a
very warm and wet autumn and the return to more normal temperatures for
this time of year.

"Many places are likely to reach 13c still
with an average across Britain of 9.9c which is actually not bad for
this time of year."

The chilly warnings come as the United States is crippled by a major whiteout which killed seven people.

Jim Dale, forecaster for British Weather Services, said: "It is not
quite cold enough yet for that to happen but it is getting colder,
especially after the mild weather we have seen and what we are expecting
is not linked to what is happening in the United States.

"The
change is really down to this battleground between high and low
pressure, it is a classic situation resulting in mild quickly followed
by cold conditions."

Tuesday's UK forecast: A
cold and frosty start for most with low cloud, mist and fog which will
be slow to lift. Then, it is going to be rather cloudy with rain
spreading north into southern and central parts of England. There will
also be patchy rain for western and southern Scotland and Northern
Ireland. - Daily Mirror.

November 29, 2014 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare creatures.

Pygmy sperm whale found dead on Anglesey beach, Wales

Gwynedd
Council worker Rhys Jones found the young pygmy sperm whale at Dinas
Dinlle beach, a week after it had been refloated by rescuers.

A whale that was rescued and freed back into the sea last week has died.

The young pygmy sperm whale was spotted washed up on a beach at Dinas
Dinlle today, opposite Newborough beach where it was originally found
stranded and rescued, last Thursday, November 20.

It was discovered by Gwynedd council worker Rhys Jones.

A post-mortem will be carried out by the government's Marine
Environmental Monitoring body to try to find out what caused the
animal's death.

Dr Peter Evans, Director of the Seawatch Foundation, said it was not surprising that the whale had died.

"They have been found increasingly in European waters in the past few years because of climate change.

"It's probably come across from deeper waters into shallower waters.

"It's very sad news as it's only the second strand in Wales of such a rare species."

Last week, the Daily Post reported how volunteers from Sea Watch Foundation found the male mammal stranded at Newborough beach.

They were joined by members of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue
(BDMLR), coastguards and RSPCA who carried the male mammal from the sand
and back into the sea.

There had been fears the whale would strand itself again. - Daily Post.

Manatee from Florida makes rare visit to Texas waters

The manatee is expected to be taken to Sea World San Antonio or a Marine Mammal facility in Galveston.

Authorities in Texas said they are working on a plan to assist an unusual visitor -- the first manatee to visit the Houston area in 19 years.

The Chambers County Sheriff's Office said a deputy spotted the male
manatee swimming up a channel Sunday near Baytown and barriers were put
in place once the sea mammal settled in a spot next to a warm water
outlet.

Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said waters in the area are too cold for manatees this time of year.

"The cold water makes them stressed, it makes them really tired, just like if you or I were out in a snowstorm," he told the Houston Chronicle.

WATCH: Manatee from Florida makes rare visit to Texas waters.

Experts said they were able to identify the manatee using the scar patterns on his back. They said the animal usually spends his time in Tampa, Fla., and they are not sure why he made the swim to the Houston area.

Heidi Whitehead, operations coordinator at the Texas Marine Mammal
Stranding Network, said her group is working with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and Sea World San Antonio on a plan to relocate the sea
cow before temperatures drop too much.

"He's already showing some signs of cold stress so that is a concern,"Whitehead
said. "Once the water temperature drops below 68 degrees it's too cold
for them to survive. It is necessary for us to relocate it."

Whitehead said the manatee could be pulled from the water before the end
of the day Tuesday and will be taken to Sea World if it is found to be
in good health or a Marine Mammal facility in Galveston if it requires
urgent care.

"We will decide how critical he is once we get him out," Whitehead said.

A manatee was previously rescued from waters near Corpus Christi in 2007. The animal was returned to Florida. - UPI.

Thousands of fish die in fish cages in Wonogiri Regency, Indonesia

The fish were cultured in floating cages in Gajah Mungkur (WGM) died on Wednesday (11/26/2014). The death of thousands of fish affected the
change of seasons or transition that resulted in depleted oxygen content. (Bony Eko Wicaksono / Jibi / Solopos)

Erratic
weather conditions at the turn of the season lead to the death of 35
tons of fish were cultured in floating cages Aquafarm Nusantara PT Gajah
Mungkur (WGM)Earlier, thousands of fish die in mid-November. The majority of fish are farmed tilapia and catfish types. Death of fish in floating cages WGM an annual cycle when the transition.

A manager WGM floating cages fish meal, Slamet, said dead fish found floating cages in 16 Aquafarm Nusantara PT in just a day."Water reservoirs shrink despite the rain since a few days ago. Significantly, the oxygen content in the water to thin, "he said when met solopos.com, Wednesday (11/26/2014).According to him, dead fish directly buried in the surrounding area and away from the area WGM floating cages.A farmer floating fish cages WGM, Wardiman, the number of dead fish belonging to farmers was reduced compared to some time ago. At that time, the number of dead fish 1-2 tons / day.Typically, this condition will expire after the reservoir water levels back to normal.According to him, the death of fish this year is comparable to similar conditions in some previous years. At that time, the number of dead fish reached more than 30 tons."If the number of dead fish is only about 10-20 tons is still relatively mild. Usually more than 30 tons when entering the transition, "he explained. - Solopos. [Translated]

15,000 birds dead, 200,000 to be killed due to avian flu in Kerala, India

India
has found two outbreaks of a highly contagious bird flu virus in the
southern state of Kerala, prompting the authorities to cull more than
200,000 birds, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on
Tuesday.

The virus itself killed about 15,000 infected ducks in
Kottayam and another 500 in nearby Alappuzha, the first cases of the
disease in the country since February this year, the Paris-based OIE
reported on its website, citing data submitted by the Indian ministry of
agriculture.

The report said the animals died of an H5 strain of the flu virus but did not specify the exact variant.

Germany,
the Netherlands and Britain have been hit this month by the H5N8 bird
flu strain which has devastated flocks in Asia, mainly South Korea,
earlier this year but has never been detected in humans.

Another
strain, the feared H5N1, can be fatal to humans. It caused the deaths
of nearly 400 people and hundreds of millions of poultry after it spread
from Asia into Europe and Africa in 2005-2006.

"The problem in this case is that they have not
been able to determine which variant yet, whether it is the same as the
one in Korea and elsewhere."

Over 200,000 birds were being
culled in the villages where the outbreaks were found and an intensive
surveillance campaign had been launched in a 10 km radius around the
area to ensure that the virus did not spread further, the Indian
ministry said it its report.

Since 2006 India has culled 6.4
million birds due to bird flu, Vallat said, adding that the latest
outbreaks were not a particular cause for concern. - Reuters.

Over 30 dead or dying crows found in Portland parks, Oregon

About 30 dead crows were found along the Willamette River waterfront and some Portland parks,and officials don't have any idea at this time what caused their deaths.

Several crows were seen suffering seizures and flopping on the ground
at Waterfront Park, police said, and several dead crows were seen
nearby. Other dead crows were found around Chapman and Lownsdale Square
parks and the Lovejoy Fountain.

PPB Sgt. Roger Axtelm said the
bureau "had a number of phone calls from citizens calling about the
blackbirds that were down and apparently ill. Some were deceased." A
few of the birds were alive but in bad shape. Bob Sallinger with the
Portland Audobon Society said the ones still alive "were convulsing."

WATCH: Dozens of dead crows found in Portland parks.

He said they don't know what caused them to die, "but it's very possible they got into some kind of toxin. The
birds that I took a look at already looked very healthy, good body
condition. Good feather condition. They died suddenly from something."

Portlanders who spoke with KOIN 6 News, like Hunter Hesslink, were more than a little curious about the bird deaths.

"I don't think it's healthy at all to be around dead crows," Hesslink
said. "I don't think that's safe, and birds carry diseases. So I think
they should look into it, at least."

Sallinger said there is no real reason to worry. "As a member of the public, I would not be concerned."

But he said if you see a dead crow, don't touch it. Call the Audobon Society.

He also said it's too early to tell if the birds died a natural death or if it was intentional.

ODFW will conduct necropsies on each of the birds. Anyone coming across
dead crows in Portland parks should not move them and should call the
Park Ranger Hotline at 503.823.1637.

"Sometimes these things
remain mysteries. There are some obvious things that you look for, but
it can be a needle in a haystack," Sallinger said. - KOIN.

Third elephant attack within 3 days in Sri Lanka: Two killed in jumbo attack

Two men were killed in a wild elephant attack on Monday night at Ellakattuwa,

The deceased were A. Gunadasa (65) and P. G. Sambarana (62).

The Wildlife officials said that the elephant had emerged from the
jungles of Nochchiyagama and moved to Malwathu Oya after killing the two
persons.

A team of Wildlife officials had moved to the area to capture the elephant and relocate it, the officials said.

Dozens of bird corpses wash up on Monterey beach, California

Birds recently began washing up on Monterey Municipal Beach.

Over the past few days, the tide has brought in more than just kelp.

Recently,
observant beachgoers have reported dozens of bird corpses along the
high-water mark of several local beaches. On Wednesday morning, there
were over four dozen dead seabirds along a 1.5-mile stretch of Monterey
Municipal Beach, including Cassin's auklets, western grebes, northern
fulmars and murres.

Seabirds can die during
fall migration if they are too old, weak or malnourished. Also, warm
near-shore waters may have decreased local populations of krill, a
common food for seabirds, according to Raphael Kudela, professor of
ocean sciences at UC Santa Cruz. Occasional algal blooms can also kill
seabirds.

The causes of death of the birds spotted Wednesday were not known.
But, dead seabirds are not an unusual feature of Monterey-area
shorelines during autumn, experts with the Audubon Society and the
Monterey County chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals said.

"This appears to be one of those things that can
happen every year around this time," said Jessica Shipman, a spokeswoman
with the Monterey County SPCA. - Monterey Herald.

Dog attacks on people triple over a year in Queenstown, New Zealand

Roaming dogs, the number of menacing dogs and attacks on people are on the rise in Queenstown.

The number of attacks on people increased from six in the 2012/13 financial year to 19 in the last period.

The number of dogs classed as "menacing" more than doubled from eight to 19, while the number of infringement notices for failing to keep a dog under control leapt from 17 to 37.

Councillors will consider a dog control report during a Queenstown Lakes District Council meeting today.

Council regulatory manager Lee Webster said there was a small increase
in the number of dogs registered in the district but the increased
number of attacks may also be due to more reporting.

"Over the last year we have seen an increase in the overall number of attacks [on people and animals] from 24 to 46which has generated significant demand for the animal control service," the report said.

Webster said the increases could be attributed to a combination of changes.

"We've had a small increase in the number of registered dogs. That's
only going to increase as we move forward with development in Queenstown
and Wanaka.

"Maybe it's more reporting and the attack levels
have been the same. People know the council are going to action it. It's
a significant increase [in attacks], we have had more attacks on
people, thankfully not a huge number. That's still a significant number
of attacks, which we don't want."

Overall, across the district
the number of registered dogs increased to 3874 and the number of
complaints increased by 21 per cent to 900. The increase in complaints
continued a trend over the last three years, the council said.

The biggest problem were roaming dogs, prompting 337 complaints.

In the Wakatipu, the council record shows 21 menacing dogs on the
register, including two American pitbull types. Of the attacks on people
this year, four were classed as serious.

He said: "The most likely cause of stranding and death at this stage is
starvation, although we are waiting for the results from follow-up
tests, including several to determine whether the animal had an
underlying infection."

Some 12,000 cetacean strandings have been recorded in the UK since 1990.

Mr Deaville said: "In
that time, only one long-finned pilot whale has been recorded stranded
on the UK coast in the southern North Sea - a single individual in
Norfolk in 1992 - indicating how unusual this event is."

The pod of whales has been off the Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex coastlines in recent weeks. - BBC.

Swimmers have been warned to keep clear of grey seals after scientists discover that they attack and kill porpoises

Grey seals may be a danger to swimmers after scientists discovered they were responsible for the widespread slaughter and mutilation of North Sea porpoises.
Wildlife experts have long been divided over what caused the horrific
injuries seen on the bodies of hundreds of beached harbour porpoises.
Some blamed boat propellers while others claimed the animals had become
entangled in fishing nets and left at the mercy of scavengers.

Now
DNA analysis of their injuries has led to an intriguing conclusion. It
seems they are regularly attacked and killed by grey seals which tear
strips of nutritious blubber from their bodies.

And scientists have warned that the seals could target human swimmers in a similar way.

Over the past decade more than one thousand severely scarred and wounded porpoises have washed up on North Sea coastlines.

"A substantial proportion of harbour porpoises that stranded on the
Dutch coast were mutilated by grey seals," said lead researcher Mardik
Leopold of the Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies in
The Netherlands.

"Most cases involved active killing and that
only a small proportion can be attributed to post-mortem scavenging.
This makes predation by grey seals one of the main causes of death in
harbour porpoises currently stranding in The Netherlands.

"Many
of the mutilated porpoises were found on Dutch shores used frequently
by human bathers and surfers and there would appear to be no reason why
humans may not be at risk from grey seal attacks."

Grey seals
can grow to nearly 11ft in length and weigh 880lbs. There are large
colonies in UK waters including at Donna Nook in Lincolnshire, the Farne
Islands off the Northumberland coast, Ramsey Island off the coast of
Pembrokeshire as well as large populations on the Scottish islands of
Orkney and North Rona.

Although only a few mutilated porpoises
have ever washed up onto British shores, experts say it could be just a
matter of time before the behaviour becomes widespread, and pose a real
danger to humans.

"Very few have been found, and recognised for what they are, in the UK," added Mr Leopold.

"Yet, most grey seals live in Scotland, and so do many porpoises, and
we know that grey seals sometimes swim from the UK to the Continent.

"It could be just a matter of time, of course as this behaviour is now very common here."

Researchers looked back at images of 1,081 dead porpoises which washed
up between 2003 and 2013. Of the 721 animals which were fresh enough to
look for marks, some 25 per cent showed visible signs of attack by grey
seals. They were also compared to three porpoises which had seal DNA in
their wounds. The bites and scratches were found to match.

The
scientists estimate that at least 17 per cent of animals washed up on
shore were killed by the seals adding that many more bodies are likely
to have been lost at sea or eaten completely.

Richard
Harrington, of the Marine Conservation Society said: "Grey seals can be
very territorial and we would always tell people not to approach them.
Scuba divers often report being approached by seals.

"I have never heard of any attacks on bathers but you can't rule it out.

"We have had lots of reports of carcasses of harbour porpoises where we
have been unable to explain their deaths or their condition and this
report gives a feasible explanation."

The authors suggest that
grey seals may have originally scavenged the bodies of porpoises which
had become entangled in fishing nets and drowned, before moving to
actually hunting the animals.

A spokesman for the RSPCA said swimmers should take care when in the water near seals.

"While we would urge people not to be unduly concerned by this study,
it is important for people to remember that seals are wild animals and
are therefore by their nature unpredictable.

"We would advise
members of the public to be cautious around them however its unlikely
these animals would pose an immediate threat to humans in the sea.

"Generally, seals do not directly interact with people and are
naturally wary of humans. Like many other members of British wildlife
they shun human contact.

"If a member of the public find a seal
in distress we would urge them to contact rescue organisations such as
ourselves where trained handlers can respond."

The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
- Telegraph.

Man injured in wild boar attack in Yamaguchi, Japan

A 71-year-old man was injured by a wild boar while walking near his home in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, police said Monday.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 4 p.m. Sunday. TBS
reported that the man suffered injuries to his head, arms and legs.

The boar fled into the garden of a nearby house. About 20 hunters and police captured and destroyed it two hours later.

Police said the boar was 1.2 meters long and weighed about 100 kilograms. - Japan Today.

One person dies and another injured in jumbo attack, India

One
person was killed and another injured in an elephant attack on Tuesday
evening near Heggadde in Sakleshpur taluk, in the Kempuhole reserve
forest area.

The deceased has been identified as Yuvaraj (45)
and the injured as Manjaiah (60). The two persons had gone into the
forest in search of their cattle when they were attacked by the
elephant. While the latter, who fell unconscious, returned to the
village later, the former did not. The villagers, who went in search of
him on Wednesday morning, recovered his body.

Deputy Conservator of Forests Ganesh S. Bhat told The Hindu
on Wednesday that the officers were waiting for the injured person to
recover to know how the incident happened. Mr. Majaiah is being treated
at Sakleshpur hospital.

The department has not announced
compensation for the death. "Since the incident happened in the forest
limits, an inquiry has to be conducted to release compensation. The
officers will look into why he went into the forest," the officer said.
The State government gives a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh to the family of
those killed by wild animals. The first instalment of Rs. 2 lakh is
paid on the day of the incident if there are no disputes.

The
residents of Sakleshpur kept Yuvaraj's body on Bengaluru-Mangaluru Road
and staged a protest. They demanded that the government provide
compensation to the family immediately. The protesters blocked vehicles
on the road for more than an hour. Mr. Bhat said he would take an
unbiased decision on the compensation soon after the inquiry was done. -
The Hindu.

Temple mutt elephant tramples mahout to death in India

An
elephant reared in a temple mutt at Tambaram on Wednesday trampled its
mahout. The 21-year-old animal keeper, who joined as the assistant
mahout early this month, died at a private hospital."He is 18 years old
and had always been an obedient animal.
The untoward incident was an accidental reflex action after victim R.
Ganesan stepped on the foot of jumbo, while making an attempt to chain
the pachyderm. The elephant misjudged Ganesan as some strange object and
kicked him", explained eyewitness M. Sivarajan, mahout of Malolan.

"Ganesan joined us recently for a salary of Rs10,000 and was performing
as Kaavadi (assistant to mahout). He was taking back the jumbo to its
enclosure after the routine morning prayers, "Sivarajan added.Meanwhile,
forest department has begun investigations on the animal behaviour and
dispatched its Vandalur zoo veterinarian Thirumurugan.

"The animal is healthy and obedient, but the cause of its behaviour is yet to be ascertained.Anti stress prescriptions have been advised for the elephant and it is free from musth", the veterinarian said.

According to Ahobila mutt sources the pachyderm was bought in 2002 from
Kerala. This is the first rude behaviour and the animal is usually
confined to in-house temple rituals.

Selaiyur police has registered a case of unnatural death and the body sent for postmortem.

"Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) had been campaigning for the ban
on elephants at all religious places. And it's time we understood the
consequences of domesticating a wild animal," said animal behaviorist
F.M. Jerold, animal welfare officer, AWBI. - Deccan Chronicle.

Wildlife officials search for tiger in Russia following rare attack on hunter

Wildlife
officials in the Russian Far East are on a mission to track down a
tiger believed to have mauled a 75-year-old hunter to death.

Pavel Fomenko, the coordinator of the Amur branch of the World Wildlife
Fund, said in an online statement Monday that tracks near the man's body
indicated that he had been killed by a tiger.

"What exactly
served as the basis for the wild animal's behavior, whether it had
gunshot or other wounds - this is not yet clear," Fomenko said in the
statement.

Local hunters have said there are at least two other
tigers in the region, a factor that Fomenko said will complicate
efforts to find the animal behind the recent attack.

Human attacks by Amur tigers are extremely rare, according to the statement, which says that 90 percent of tiger attacks are somehow provoked by the human.

"But it is not necessarily the human that provoked the tiger that winds
up the victim of the attack. It is enough to recall the tragedy in
Bikinsk [in the Khabarovsk region], when a tiger wounded by a poacher
attacked an innocent hunter and killed him," the statement said.

There are only an estimated 400 Amur tigers left in the wild, with most of them inhabiting Russia's Far East. - The Moscow Times.